It should not be too difficult to understand why certain groups are tempted by to encourage their co-religionists to reject the West. During recent controversies in Denmark, the Netherlands and the United States, the Muslims citizens of those countries expressed their dismay in a calm and democratic manner. Socio-economic factors make it easier to understand these troubles. Blaming Islam and the Muslims does not.
We must face reality. The majority of Muslims in the Global South have a negative image of the United States and of the West. They do not express their feelings by demonstrating or by violence (which are, I repeat, the work of a minority), a deeply rooted lack of trust persists. Many Americans are surprised, for they believed that they had supported the Arab peoples during their recent uprising. But the Arabs have a longer memory, and a broader view: for decades the U.S. supported and protected dictators. The situation in Iraq and Afghanistan remains critical. American policy has d and continues to profound animosity. The humiliating treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, which has remained open despite the promises of then-candidate Barack Obama, is engraved in memory.
America’s permanent and unilateral support for Israel is another reason for this massive lack of trust. Whatever the president’s initial good intentions, Arabs have been left with the impression that the Zionist lobby is too powerful, and that friendship extends no farther than fine words and pious wishes. For more than seventy years now, the U.S. has acted unilaterally in pursuit of its interests and its national security in the Middle-East, defended Israel unconditionally, and exploited the Arab countries and their peoples.
Is this perception totally wrong? American (and European) policies are fraught with contradictions; both are facing increasingly serious challenges. Their main regional economic allies remain Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain (which no one ever accused of being democratic) whose religious institutions finance the self-same Salafi organizations that promote anti-Americanism in the streets of Cairo and Tunis. As the region enters an era of democratic transition—though prudence is in orderit may well be that anti-American emotions have peaked.
These emotions are nothing new; but the world has changed. New economic actors like China, India, Russia, Brazil, Turkey and South Africa are moving into the Middle-Eastern market. As the world’s economic center of gravity shifts eastward, the prospects for the U.S., Europe and Israel are anything but encouraging. Looking beyond the violent acts of a handful, the American administration would be well advised to examine why the Arab peoples reject it, and attempt to develop more coherent and better-balanced regional policies.
The danger is real: in the face of competition China, India, Russia or other emerging powers, America may be unable to halt its downward spiral. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s incoherent rhetoric and murky political program promise to accelerate the decline. Nor has President Obama, with his verbal eloquence and failure to act, been unable to stop the slide. The Arab world is seething; a new era has begun. This is the backdrop against which the U.S. administration must assess its certainties, its choices, its priorities, and—most urgently—its friends.
